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How does the barometer in my Fenix 6 actually work or why does it show me obviously "wrong" values?

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

Hi, 

may be someone here can help me fix this issue or understand how the barometer functionality works in my Fenix 6. 

The barometer widget on my Fenix 6 more or less shows the same value (+/- a few hPA), irrespective of me being on +50m level, + 525m level, in an airplane (with pressure chamber) +10km in the air, on the 7th floor of a building or on ground level. Also, I have checked metrological information from a third party for my location and compared it to what the barometer in my Samsung Galaxy and the Fenix 6 says. And the results are inexplicable to me (Weather station: 953,3 hPA @ 515m, Samsung: 954 hPA, F6: 1015 hPA). The Samsung barometer also shows me different values for ground level compared/7th floor. 

However, interestingly, the altitude shown by the watch changes plausibly. So for example, it shows a difference between ground level and the 7th floor. Within the plane, the altitude at least showed some more or less credible information (~ 1600m - 1800m; probably due to cabin pressure). 

I have already tried calibrating altimeter/barometer a few times. However, no changes have occurred to above behavior. Can someone explain me how to get the correct barometric pressure values for the Fenix 6 barometer or how it works?

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Because F6 shows sea level pressure ? (QNH)

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    The barometer is trying to show you the sea-level pressure. If you go up 500m while the weather doesn't change, the barometer reading won't change but the elevation will change by 500m. You can show the pressure at the watch in activities by putting Ambient Pressure in a data field.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to mcbadger
    mcbadger said:
    If you go up 500m while the weather doesn't change, the barometer reading won't change but the elevation will change by 500m

    It depends on how you set the barometer. There is the Barometer setting and there is the Altimeter setting.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to bluefish

    Or, for that matter, the Auto setting, which toggles between the two based on movement.

    It is pretty obvious that the OP is not using the Barometer setting, though.

    Surreal moment just now - the email notification I got of your post translated what you typed into German.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago

    Thanks for your help! 

    The barometer is on auto setting. I manually switched between barometer/altimeter mode, but did not notice a difference (though, only tested it while sitting at my desk). 

    However, I have also configured one activity data field for ambient barometric pressure and it showed plausible values (+ 0,6 hPa of Samsung value). 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member
    I manually switched between barometer/altimeter mode, but did not notice a difference (though, only tested it while sitting at my desk). 

    Yes, you won't see a difference until there is a change in pressure. It always displays what it believes to be sea-level pressure, not ambient pressure; the difference is how it interprets pressure changes. Altimeter it assumes any changes are in elevation (sea-level pressure stays the same); Barometer it assumes your elevation is constant (sea-level pressure tracks with ambient). Auto it assumes changes are elevation if the accelerometer in the watch says you're moving significantly, sea-level pressure if you're not. Does still tend to need calibration to keep it precise.

    Sounds as though your Samsung is displaying ambient pressure, then, which should vary with your elevation.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to mcbadger

    Great! That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Does anyone know how the auto-calibration of the alti-meter works?  I'm especially interested in the "outside activity" option since in those cases the location is not known...


    Would it not be handy to have an additional option to calibrate the altimeter to a given height and at a given time (e.g. 6.am)? This would only work when you sleep at home, but for the other cases you still have the auto-calibration. Might be a stupid suggestion, because I don;t know the details of the calibration, hence the question ;)

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Does anyone know how the auto-calibration of the alti-meter works?  I'm especially interested in the "outside activity" option...


    Would it not be handy to have an additional option to calibrate the altimeter to a given height and at a given time (e.g. 6.am)? This would only work when you sleep at home, but for the other cases you still have the auto-calibration. Might be a stupid suggestion, because I don;t know the details of the calibration, hence the question ;)